Only 26 percent of Texas voters approve of the way President Joe Biden is handling immigration and border security, the most important issues facing the state, according to a new poll released Thursday by the University of Texas.
The survey by the university's Texas Politics Project, conducted from May 31 to June 9, on 1200 registered voters, examined where Texans stand on 2024 candidates, border security, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
"With both national and Texas Republicans demonstrably trying to make immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border central to the 2024 election, only 26% of Texas voters approve of the current president's handling of immigration and border security," the study points out.
By contrast, 54% disapprove of the Democratic administration's handling of the issue, a share that varies significantly across demographic groups.
Non-Hispanic white voters tend to have the harshest view of the Biden administration's handling of the border - 56% strongly disapprove and 7% somewhat disapprove - followed by Latinos (42% and 11%).
Just three-in-ten black voters say they disapprove, with 13% strongly disapproving and 17% somewhat disapproving.
Among Democrats, 51% of them approve of how Biden is handling the issue, with only 16% strongly approving and nearly a quarter disapproving, with the remainder either neutral (22%) or undecided (3%), the poll found.
Republican voters are, unsurprisingly, deeply disapproving of Biden's handling of the issue that is most important to most of them: only 6% registered approval, while 86% disapproved – 79% strongly.
Independent assessments look more like those of Republicans than Democrats, though their attitudes are not as intense as their Republican neighbors: Only 14% approve, with 62% disapproving – 53% strongly.
How important is this issue to tip the scale in November elections within Texas? The poll found that state voters ranked inflation as the most important problem facing the country, with 18% of those in the poll showing that concern. Political corruption and the economy rounded out the top three national concerns.
However, border security was identified by voters as the most important issue facing Texas today, followed closely by immigration.
As per Gov. Greg Abbott administration, the findings show that 33% of Texan voters say the state spends too little on border security, while 29% said the state spends about the right amount and a quarter (25%) said the state was spending too much.
Abbot is spending more than $11 billion in state taxpayer dollars to fund Operation Lone Star, Texas' program to deploy state troopers and law enforcement to the border in response to what the G.O.P. described as negligence on the part of the president Biden administration.
The overall share of those who say the state still spends too little on border security was made up primarily of Republican voters, half of whom (50%) say the state isn't spending enough, compared to 16% of Democrats and 26% of independents.
A plurality of Democrats, 44%, say the state spends too much, though nearly a quarter (24%) say the state is spending the right amount.
"The latest in a series of data points suggesting that the share of Democrats open to more proactive border policy in Texas, while a clear minority, is not insignificant," the report highlights.
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